4-year-old boy killed by toppled tree as severe storms slam Midwest
More than 900,000 utility customers were without power on Wednesday morning.
A 4-year-old boy was killed when a tree toppled on his home in Indiana on Tuesday amid an outbreak of severe weather that spawned at least five confirmed tornadoes and produced strong winds that downed power lines and ripped roofs off homes.
More than 700,000 utility customers across Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia remained without power on Wednesday morning, according to poweroutage.us.
Many of the areas in the Midwest and Ohio Valley that were slammed by dangerous, deadly storms on Tuesday were bracing for another round of severe weather on Wednesday.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center has issued a two-out-of-five risk for severe storms on Wednesday from Nebraska to Kentucky, including the cities of St. Louis, Indianapolis and Omaha. The main threats are expected to be damaging winds, hail and possible tornadoes.
High temperatures across the Midwest are fueling the severe storms. On Wednesday, heat indices, which factor in humidity, will make it feel like 108 in Kansas City and 109 in St. Louis.
Two flash-flood emergencies were issued on Wednesday morning in eastern Indiana after more than 6 inches of rain fell in the area. Law enforcement officials reported numerous flooded roads in Cambridge City and Muncie, Indiana.
Storms were training, or remaining stationary, across eastern Indiana and Kentucky on Wednesday morning, producing rain totals of up to 8 inches in some areas.
On Tuesday, the 4-year-old boy died when a tree fell on his home in Geneva Township, Indiana, according to Jennings County Deputy Chief Cody Low. The tree crashed through a back bedroom of the home, trapping the child, Low said.
Three other people were inside the Geneva Township home when strong winds moved through Jennings County around 3:30 p.m. local time, but managed to escape unharmed, Low noted.
"This is obviously unexpected," Low said. "There's nothing we can say that is going to make it any better. We're going to push through this as a community. We're going to back the family with anything they need. Our thoughts are with them."
Low said another home two miles from where the boy was killed was also damaged by a fallen tree, but no injuries were reported.
There were at least five confirmed tornadoes that spun up from Iowa to Illinois.
At least three of the tornadoes touched down in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, uprooting trees, damaging homes and knocking out power to numerous utility customers.
In Chicago Heights, severe winds damaged the roof of the Marian Catholic school, prompting officials to cancel all student activities, and 250 students at Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Flossmoor, Illinois, south of Chicago, were forced to shelter in place, ABC Chicago station WLS reported.
On Tuesday, two South Dakota Highway Patrol troopers assisting in a manhunt were nearly hit by a lightning bolt south of Rapid City. Officials released body camera video early Wednesday of the two troopers standing near their vehicles when the bolt struck just feet from them.
In the northwest Indiana community of Portage, a woman was killed in a house explosion officials suspect was linked to the severe storms.
In Ohio, winds were so strong that an Ohio Department of Transportation traffic camera captured a car being lifted and tossed upside down on Interstate 71 in Columbus during a torrential rainstorm on Tuesday morning.
In Grafton, Ohio, 16 inmates at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction were hospitalized after being injured in a lightning strike on Tuesday evening, correction officials said.
ABC News' Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
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